Dare To Dream!

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. (Genesis 37:5-8)

Today the world lost another dreamer. Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a coward’s bullet and bomb. Bhutto was a revolutionary leader who lived her dream for a democratic Pakistan in the shadow of terror. It’s an epitaph for a life lived under a calling. Great dreams can be deadly.

Ultimately, everyone will dream. But I’m not talking about nocturnal nightmares that chill the skin. Nor am I addressing daydreams that casually slip a mind into autopilot. The truly terrifying dreams are dangerous, daunting and daring. They run counter-culture, cross-stream, up hill and against the grain. It’s why true visionaries rarely outlive their dreams.

Dreams tend to consume the dreamer. President Lincoln was murdered days after the Civil War ended, haunted by nightmares of just such a fate. Camelot died along with JFK in a Dallas downtown street in November 1963. A few years later Martin Luther King’s dream for racial reconciliation violently shattered on a Memphis hotel balcony. John Lennon imagined a world of peace and was brutally shot one cold New York night in 1980.

Daring dreams are dangerous dreams. Visions that alter history and force societal change are conceived in times of trial and trouble. No real dream is void of opposition. Critics condemn many dreams as delusions. Family and friends finger them as fantasy. Some dreams do seem far-fetched at first. Fly in the air? Never. Walk on the moon? Insane. Transmit image over air? Keep dreaming. Many a dream is discounted not for possibility but rather mounting obstacles against it. Get a college degree? Good luck. Snag your dream job? That’s nice, honey. Leave a legacy? I won’t hold my breath.

Joseph was an idealistic visionary who neither allowed others to define his dream nor mar his mission. He wouldn’t allow even his closest family to denigrate his dream. Visions have value and voice. They speak into the heart and animate the spirit. Those who oppose a dream may eventually discover they’re fighting God. That’s why many dreams die from malnutrition. Visions must be fed, nurtured and sheltered until the moment is ripe.

A dreamer waits for his (or her) date with destiny. But here’s the catch (as noted in Joseph’s life): Dreams may take years to materialize and often come at great price. Dreams that change and charge a world mature within adversity, struggle, pain and loneliness. Joseph would eventually live his dream but not before years in pit and prison, as slave and sentry.

Dreams drove Joseph to eventually lead all of Egypt. Where will your dreams drive you? Nevertheless, dream on.

Dream on.


NOTABLE QUOTABLES ON DREAMS:

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. (T.E. Lawrence)

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
(John Lennon)

You know a dream is like a river
Ever changing as it flows
And the dreamer's just the vessel
That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you
And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle
Just to stay between the shores.
(Garth Brooks)

You can often measure a person by the size of his dream. (Robert H. Schuller)

It may be those who do most, dream most. (Stephen Leacock)

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. (Christopher Reeve)

Only dreamers can teach us to soar. (Anne Marie Pierce)

Father, it is You who sows the seer with dreams. It is You who protects and provides, anoints and affirms, motivates and matures the dreamer to live Your dream. Thank You for your Revelation and we simply ask for courage, strength and wisdom to become and accomplish what You have ordained. Amen.